We’ve jumped hoops, performed tricks and cartwheels. And then we were PACSed ;)

It has been a stressful few weeks, in no small part due to paperwork concerns. It’s not just about run-of-the-mill effort in gathering the necessary documents, it’s the little things that we did not know we needed and only told within limited time frame, related to me, the foreigner! Documentation to be sent from abroad is bound to take time. How’s that for additional anxiety? In a way, this is our first tough exercise in proving that we are committed and want what we want. (Poor F had to do a lot of running around on my behalf. Luckily, he was on holidays before starting his new job.)

I thought I’d write this little info-post which hopefully would be helpful to someone intending to get PACSed. Particularly for Malaysian-French couple. Mind, this is based on our experience and what we’ve been asked to provide. The information is currently up-to-date but I won’t know when changes would be made in future. Could perhaps keep an eye out on the Service Public page on PACS?

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Important disclaimer: this is a guide based on personal experience and knowledge; while I don’t mind answering questions within the comment section and help anyone to my best ability, I do not possess immigration legal know-hows and I do not provide legal advise.

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Just for the background, we are both single (although now legally we’re not single but pacsé(e) in the eyes of French law), never been married, and have been living together in Paris for a while. I also hold a carte de séjour temporaire linked to my job and speak French reasonably well. We concluded our PACS at our local Tribunal d’Instance (TI) although it is also possible to go to a notary to register the PACS. The difference – it’s free at the TI!

This post is very long, divided into the following sections. Read what’s relevant to you.
– The very basic steps
– Document requirements
– Documents specific to foreign partner
– Effective management of PACS process
– Information for Malaysians intending to get PACSed in France

The very basic steps

Identify your local TI : search for “Tribunal d’instance” in “Catégories” along with your postcode (in Paris, use 75000 to show all TI and look for your arrondissement’s)

Gather the relevant paperwork, bearing in mind date validity.

Obtain an appointment at the TI.

Shows up for the appointment and voila!

Collect the PACS certificate.

Document requirements

Documentation preparation for the French partner is a lot simpler and straight forward than that of the foreign partner. Let’s first look at the list of documents required and I will explain the foreign partner-specific requirements in a later section.

Also to note, any documentation in foreign language must be translated into French by official court translators. Cetiecap provides a list of companies that provide certified translation near to Cours d’appel in Paris. My friend Sarah also recommended this site to search for certified translator nationwide.

In cases where such translator is not available for a particular language, the translation service can be sought from consular section of the relevant country. For the record, there isn’t a known certified translator for Malay-French at present so translation service is provided by the Malaysian embassy.

A. Documents to be prepared/printed

a convention de PACS (i.e. a PACS contract), which can be a simplified contract or a more complicated one drawned up by a notary if there are additional clauses to be included to the contract (e.g. partitioning of property, personal affects, mortgage, children-related issues, inheritance etc).[Sample of simplified PACS contract in PDF]

widowhood: details of deceased partner (e.g. livret famille with death information, extract of birth certificate with notation of death, death certificate)

divorcees: a copy of finalised divorce decree

prior PACS: proof of dissolution of PACS

Documents specific to foreign partner

These documents are to be submitted only by the foreign partner. In the past, certificat de non-PACS is required for both partners but with different periods of validity – 1 month for French partner, 3 months for foreign partner – but this has been changed. French partner is now exempt from this submission. An attestation de non-inscription au répertoire civil is to be provided only in the case of foreign partner who has been resident in France for over 1 year.

If the name of foreign partner is considered ambiguous gender-wise to a typical French, do include gender information when requesting for certificates from the French administrative offices. This may seem like a minor thing, but it is always advisable to get things correct right from the start, especially when the title of address/salutation is often used as gender indication. One never know if there may be repercussion a few years down the road that is currently not envisaged. Correcting that error after some time has lapsed could involve more paperworks (and perhaps snarky administrative staff) that makes thing more difficult than needs be. Logic doesn’t always apply in the chain of bureaucracy…

I. Certificat de non-PACS
This certificate can be obtained from the Tribunal de Grand Instance (TGI) in Paris, which acts as the information centre pertaining all PACS concluded by non-French nationals. The request form (cerfa n°12819*04) is to be filled and submit to TGI with supporting documents (valid identity card, certified translation of birth certificate).

II. Certificat de coutume and certificat de celibat
Both certificates are to be obtained from the embassy/consulate of the foreign partner.

Certificat de coutume states the nationality of the foreign partner, the legal adult age in his/her country of origin, and his/her legal capacity in decision-making. Obtaining this certificate may be a multiple steps process, depending on the criteria set out by the embassy/consulate. In addition, countries that do not recognise PACS (including Malaysia) may refuse to furnish this certificate and instead issue a letter stating that the country’s non-recognition of PACS prohibits them from issuing the certificate. Some greffier/greffière at the TI accepts this letter in place of the certificate, some doesn’t. An acquaintance’s greffière did, ours didn’t. This can be quite a battleground, as we found out during our documentation process, until a suitable compromise was found. (More details below in a separate section for Malaysian applicants.)

The certificat de celibat declares that the foreign partner is legally single and not married nor holding a partnership agreement in his/her country of origin. A supporting documentation is also required, normally in the form of certificate confirming marital status. Where applicable, the certificates must be legalised before submission. The embassy/consulate should be able to provide the most current information pertaining to this matter. Some greffier/greffière may require an attestation sur l’honneur that the foreign partner is single given a previous marriage or partnership may be undertaken outside of his/her country of origin and not registered with the relevant authority.

III. Attestation de non-inscription au répertoire civil (resident > 1 year)
By far the most straight forward certificate to obtain, this certificate confirms that the foreign partner is not under any decision of guardianship or curatorship according to the civil registration section. The request for this letter can be by done by email to rc.scec@diplomatie.gouv.fr with the following information: surname, first name(s), date of birth, place of birth, current address.

In order to help manage the PACS process to run as smoothly as possible, I suggest following the steps listed below.

Foreign partner to obtain extract of birth certificate and certificate confirming marital status from home country/embassy/consulate (although not all embassy/consulate could provide them). Legalised the documents where applicable.

Translation of documents into French by certified court translator/consular services, and request for issuance of certificat de coutume and certificat de celibat from embassy/consulate based on information stated on certificate confirming marital status.

Foreign partner to (a) identify the local TI to the place of residence, of which the information is used in the form to (b) request for the certificat de non-PACS from the TGI, and to (c) contact Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs for the certificat de non-inscription au répertoire civil if already a resident in France for over 1 year.

At the same time, French partner to contact the TI of his/her place of birth for an integral copy of birth certificate which includes notation of current legal status as single/divorced/widowed/non-PACSed.

Make copies of identity card/passport for both partners, and copy of proofs of communal lives, e.g. rental lease/mortgage/household utility bill (but not mobile phone) with both names.

Prepare the PACS contract and the two mandatory attestations sur l’honneur. Leave them unsigned.

Attend to the local TI, showing all documents, and obtain an appointment. (Our greffière kept our documents until the day of the PACS.)

Attend to the local TI on appointed day and time to run through the documents to ensure that everything is indeed in order, that both parties understood what is involved in a PACS, and sign the contract and declarations. If the foreign partner is unable to communicate in French, a translator should be brought along.

The PACS contract is counter-signed, dated and sealed by the greffier/greffière and returned to the couple. This is the only copy so keep it safely! Receipt(s) may also be requested/issued for purposes including proof of PACS, for collection of PACS certificates, and for immediate inclusion of foreign partner to French partner’s social security and health insurance (if foreign partner does not already have one him/herself) without having to wait until after the PACS certificate is issued.

Collection of PACS certificates – foreign partner at the TGI (by writing or in person at 11 rue de Cambrai, 75019 Paris; Métro: Corentin Cariou), French partner at the TI of his/her place of birth.

Here is a PACS document checklist in PDF which I have prepared and hopefully helps with your paperwork collection process. The documents required are listed in the order they should be prepared so they hopefully remain within valid period by the time of the PACS appointment given. Fill the white boxes with corresponding dates and ignore the grey boxes.

Information for Malaysians intending to get PACSed in France

If you are in Malaysia shortly before your planned PACS, this is the perfect time to get yourself to the Registration Office in Putrajaya to obtain an extract of your birth certificate and a certificate confirming marital status. You can technically request for the birth certificate from any branch of the Registration Office but to confirm your marital status, Putrajaya is the only office that deals with it. Postal request is possible but it is bound to take time. Besides, in order to legalised the certificates, one needs to go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nearby. So to keep things simple, just try to go to Putrajaya once and for all.

Steps to follow:
– Find an Oath Commissioner and make a statutory declaration that you are single.
– Go to the Registration Office; be conservatively dressed or you may be refused entry.
– Request for relevant forms and fill them in.
– Submit to clerk together with proof of identity and payment (RM5 per document).
– Once obtained, head over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
– Legalised the documents so they can be used abroad.

If you are not travelling back to Malaysia anytime soon, a family member/close friend can help obtain the extract of birth certificate and certificate confirming marital status. In order for a proxy to complete all formalities etc at the Registration Office, provide him/her with:
– signed statutory declaration of single-hood at the Malaysian embassy in Paris*
– signed letter of authorisation addressed to proxy to obtain the certificates on your behalf (unless it’s a parent making the request)
– copy of birth certificate that you had from birth / identity card / passport (to play it safe, no harm providing all three, and you can email these if you don’t want to post all your identity relevant paperworks in the mail, which then your proxy can print out)

Your proxy in Malaysia can then follow the steps as stated above – filling in relevant forms, obtain the certificates, legalised them, and post them to you in France. He/she will also have to bring his/her own proofs of identity so the Registration Office can verify against the letter of authorisation and to keep track who have sought information on your behalf.

Back in France, send/bring both documents to the Malaysian embassy for translation, photocopies to be certified and to request for the issuance of certificat de coutume and certificat de celibat. There is a charge of €5 per document, regardless if it’s translation, certification of photocopy or issuance of certificates.

* An important note: although a statutory declaration of marital status is normally straight forward (based on a template given to my brother in Malaysia when he requested for information on obtaining the certificate of marital status), at the embassy in Paris, I was informed that it can only be requested on the basis that I intend to get married. My partner’s information is required for inclusion in the declaration and a copy of his proof of identity was also submitted at that time to the embassy for record keeping. In any case, we ended up not using this statutory declaration (marriage is on the card but just not now for a number of personal reasons, so I did not feel comfortable using it) and therefore did not have a certificate of marital status to enable us to request for a certificat de coutume and a certificat de celibat. We managed to come to an agreement with our greffière separately on how to satisfy this aspect of paperwork requirement.

thanks sarah! we’ve learned a lot of things the hard way and while i have found articles online on pacs in english, they tend to be just listings of documents needed. while that is helpful, especially if one has trouble understanding the requirements from the gov website, it doesn’t help in knowing what exactly are certain documents about, etc.

besides, this is my way to give back to the community. another blogger’s help made it possible for us to negotiate with our greffière on substitution to the certificat de coutume!

Merci Ann! Feel free to send this post on to anyone who may find it useful. At the very least it should help reducing the stress faced by the couple. Goodness knows F and I consoled ourselves often with chocolates and pastries in order to cope… ;)

This is a very informative post. Nice job and congrats!
Btw, can I share the link of this post in my blog?

About the birth extract, I needed it when I got married, but I told the Town Hall that Malaysia issues one birth certificate for life. She accepted the copy with translation from the Embassy of Malaysia.

I’m afraid it’s not that lenient anymore nowadays with birth certificate scenario. Even the secu has just changed rules that they want legalised birth certificate! I am in another paperwork battle on this front right now, and I think when it’s finally done, I may write another post on that end of paperworks.

yes, i do have some notes – my moleskine has scribbles of info that i found before the start of the process, then modification of steps that i had to do to incorporate the changes in situation, and trust me, when you’re stuck in a terrible cycle of being passed from one office to another and back because of a piece of document, you will remember it. probably scarred by the experience, until time washes it away with a misty lull… ;)

I’ve stumbled across this post and have found it extremely helpful – thank you for thinking to document this!!

I have 2 quick questions I was wondering if I could pick your brain: do you remember how long it took for the TGI to issue the Certificat de non-PACS? I’m curious to know whether it’s immediate (if in person) or if it takes a few days.

Also, I’m pretty sure the officer at my local TI said that we could either send in our final bundle documents, or have one person drop them off – does that seem odd? (I ask because that doesn’t seem to line up with your experience.)

Thanks again for sharing, and also kudos to you guys for navigating the process!!

Hi Helen, I received the certificat de non-PACS within a week following a postal request (I sent the request form on 8th Oct, and received the certificate on 15th) so it was pretty quick. I don’t see why you won’t get it immediately if you go in person, providing you have the relevant back-up documents with you, but this is just an assumption on my part.

That doesn’t seem odd at all. My partner went to the TI and gave them the documents in person (see step 7). We didn’t want to risk there being any problem and by going to the TI in person, we also used the opportunity to check that the documents were ok and that we would be good to go on the day of our PACS.

Hello,
Me and my partner are planning to get married very soon. He is a french citizen living in paris and i an kuwaiti living in kuwait.. I would really appreciate it if could you tell me the process. In my country same sex marriage and homosexuality is illegal so is it possible for us to still be married? Also considering that i will be eventually living in paris once the marriage is all done..
Now i know the french admin requires the birth certificate, certificate proving im single and atlast which is quite making me nervous the certificate de coutoum.. Is it possible to get the certificate de coutoum? And how can i get this certificate also i do not want to get this from my embassy as it will put me in alot of trouble is it possible if i get it from the french embassy in kuwait? Just to be safe..

Hi Adel – I’m afraid I do not know the details on same-sex marriage paperwork requirements. However, if my understanding about the certificat de coutume is accurate, the French authority asks for it so to verify the custom of the foreign country. If the certificate specifies that same-sex marriage is illegal in the country of the foreign partner, then the French authority will not perform the marriage.

I don’t know either if the French embassy in Kuwait will be able to issue the certificate to you. Perhaps you can try to just ask for for it without specifying who you’re marrying? Sorry I’m not able to provide any solid advice.

Hello, I’m a Malaysian that’s going to get PACSed tmr, and I just wanted to say this post was extremely helpful! THANK YOU! I wouldn’t have even known where to start. I got everything done in Putrajaya before coming to Paris and the whole process was fairly easy. Out of curiosity, did you celebrate getting PACSed? My partner and I don’t know anyone who has done it and everyone we know expects us to have a party or something.

So glad to hear that this post is helping someone out there. And of course, congrats on your PACS! :)

(Also, welcome to Paris and hope you’re having fun discovering the city)

It is really up to the couple to celebrate it or not. Many of our friends/family who got PACSed didn’t, and some even kept it pretty low-key and quiet until months have passed! We had a small party ourselves with our friends though – any excuse to have a lovely evening together, hehehe.

Depending on the Mairie, certain even organise a small reception at a set date. Ours do that, but we decided not to take part in it.

I am looking into the PACS process now with my French BF. Our only issue is the proof of living together since we have changed apartments and we do not have EDF or Telephone proof of address since my electric and all charges are included in my rent at my current place … any advice there? Some sites say that merely a letter stating this and signed by both parties is sufficient. What is your opinion on that?

Hi Whitney, if you’re currently renting and the charges etc are included, you should present your lease with both your names, and an attestation from your landlord stating that both of you are tenants and charges are included in the rent.

Having said that, since different mairie (and fonctionnaire) works differently, if you want to be absolutely sure of what he/she may require, I suggest you go in to the mairie in person and clarify it with the person in charge.

Hi Lillian, I am a Malaysian in France and we are considering pacs. But I’m quite confused about the certificat de célibat and certificat de coutume. If Malaysia does not issue this for pacs, what documents did you end up giving instead? Please help me with this! Thanks so much.

Hi Isabella – the Malaysian Embassy provided a letter to state that it doesn’t provide the certificates for PACS purposes. As far as I know, the Australian Embassy does the same too (as per a friend’s experience). After that, it’s up to the greffièr(e) to accept it or not as a substitute. Ours didn’t, our friend’s did.

I ended up giving a copy of certificat de coutume that belongs to another friend (who got it for her marriage paperwork), and I wrote an attestation sur l’honneur with wordings dictated by our greffière as substitute to the certificat de celibat.

This really varies from one mairie to another. You should consult your greffièr(e) to know exactly what he/she wants to see from your set of paperwork.

Awesome post! This has been very helpful! I’m from your neighboring country (the Philippines) and my girlfriend and I are planning to get PACsed very soon.

I have a few questions to ask you…perhaps you know the answer to them.

1. I have a few issues with my birth certificate (there was a wrong spelling) since there was an error initially in them, and I’m afraid that if I get the equivalent of a certificat de célibat from the Philippines it will have the same error. Do you think an attestation sur l’honneur from my end stating that I’m one and the same person and that the greffier in the Philippines made a mistake would do the trick?

(I’m trying to get the mistake fixed…but it’s complicated to do from overseas, and I know it’ll take a bit of time).

2. I’m trying to understand to what extent the PACS helps in getting the visa vie privée familiale (it’s one of the reasons my partner and I decided to get PACSed).

I’m planning to change the type of titre de séjour that I got (it’s a bit more flexible and all) to the aforementioned visa. We’ve been living together for 7 months now and my current visa is expiring in July (meaning we would’ve been living together for a year and a month by the time my visa expires). Would you know if that is sufficient for the prefecture?

1. I honestly don’t have an answer to this. You will need to discuss with the greffier(e) in charge of your case on what’s acceptable or not.

2. It does help in obtaining the CdS vie privée et familiale. You will need to show at least 1 year of vie commune – https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F31039 – (which you will have, just about) and be able to justify that so I hope you have all paperworks re apartment in both names (e.g. lease, quittance de loyer, bills), have joint bank account, and if you have additional proof of your relationship beyond the 13 months of living together (e.g. travel tickets with both names), the better case you can make. As soon as you are PACSed, don’t forget to file your next tax return together too. You should also have social security cover (if you have your own, all the better, otherwise you can have a joint one with your partner after the PACS).

However, do note that unlike marriage, PACS does not confer automatic right to residency in France; it is an additional proof of stability of your private life with a French partner and that you are asking this to be taken into consideration when the prefecture evaluate your application to remain in the country.

In general it also helps if you are employed and/or in healthy financial state (i.e. not on unemployment claims, have good level of savings) although this is not systematically asked for. Also, show your integration into the French society – speaking French, professional interactions, etc. I know of someone who was asked to produce attestations from friends and (French) family to show the strength of the coupledom and integration into the society (but that’s more an exception than rule as far as I know of).

Hi Lilian – A really great and detailed post. I have a follow-up question: Would the French partner lose his/her social benefits as a result of the PACS. For example if he/she receives child care and support from the government?

Hi Patrick – sorry this is very long overdue response. In any case, I do not know enough of that aspect to answer your question, since I don’t have any children and not currently seeking any social benefits.

Hi Lillian, greetings from ??? ?. I’ve been preparing for my PACs since Jan 2016 and my bf & I are finally doing it in Nov, and boy it took me so much trouble, time and effort. I’ve been reading from so many websites/blogs and I finally stumbled upon your blog, with the awesome PACs checklist – its like finding the holy grail! Anyway, thanks for this very insightful post, and your checklist confirms that I have everything in place. Loving your blog & your photos are beautifully taken! Cheers.

hi Lillian, thank you for your useful post. I am doing PAC with my french bf. And just went to embassy to request the statutory declaration. And according to the officer, I need to send it to the marriage and divorce department in putrajaya in order to obtain the Marital status letter and this letter has to be legalized by the ministry of foreign affair in putrajaya. It is tedious for me because I’m in Paris now and my family not in malaysia. Is it any other advise to get the certificate de costume.

Hi Lydia – do you mean the type of visa to apply in order to reside (and work) in France? It’s the carte de séjour vie privée et familiale that you’ll be looking for. As far as I am aware (I haven’t checked for a while), if you have not live with your partner for at least a year, if approved, you’ll be given only the right to reside in France, and at the renewal (usually a year later), you’ll be able to request for the rights to reside and work.

Thank you for your sharing on PACS. Its mind boggling how the system works in France. My bf (french) has been living in Germany for the last 5 years and this year lucky enough to get a job that resulted him to be back in France. So its kind of start afresh for him too… worst still is having a Malaysian girlfriend who lives in KL. So now we are trying to close the gap and be together (however, he is not a big fan of “Let’s get Married” kind of thing. So get PACSed is the most practical thing to do so that I can live in France with him.

Currently I am in Orleans since March 22nd and due to go back to KL I am only on regular 3 months visa. Go back to KL and come back again in couple of months to gather all necessary papers required.

However, I dont have my name tied to any utility bills, apartment lease, etc with my bf… so this part of documents I cant fulfil, all in his name. Is this a must to submit that I must hv my name printed as a proof or either one is ok? I am worried about this part.

Thank you for your info Lilian! Very helpful. I am Malaysian too and planning getting PACS with my French man next month. Just this certificate of custom confusing me. I already prepared my birth certificate and passport. But i really don’t know how to get this certificate of custom in Malaysia. Currently i’m in Kuala Lumpur now. Hope you can reply me.

I have the same concern. Regarding the proof of living together, is it possible to live with him in his parents house and get an Attestation to this? Although I am not sure on how I can be registered for utility bllls, lease etc or joint account. I only have a 90-day tourist visa at one visit, so do you think this proofs of living together can be worked on while I’m in France? Is there a minimum amount of time lived together required? Thank you so much for the great effort to help all of us! You’re amazing!

I have the same concern as Dess. Regarding the proof of living together, is it possible to live with him in his parents house and get an Attestation to this during my upcoming visit? Although I am not sure on how I can be registered for utility bllls, lease etc or joint account. I only have a 90-day tourist visa at one visit, so do you think this proofs of living together can be worked on while I’m in France? Is there a minimum amount of time lived together required? Thank you so much for the great effort to help all of us! You’re amazing!

Hi Hersh – I responded to Dess by email and I probably should have responded here too. (I also should update this post because some of the things have changed since, e.g. you get PACSed at the registration office of the mairie and not the Tribunal d’Instance anymore.)

Honestly, I don’t know if a PACS application can be accepted if you are on tourist visa. Technically speaking, a tourist = a temporary visitor != legal resident… and the condition to a carte de séjour vie privée et familiale for a foreign PACS partner is that the person is in “situation régulière” thus already legal resident in France.

An option for proof of address will be an attestation d’hebergement from your partner (if he’s listed for the utility bills, etc) or from his parents, confirming you are a free lodger. I don’t know how you can get listed on utility bills – perhaps he can update the bill holder name to include yours too? (Sorry, this is not a situation I’ve faced so I can’t really guide you on it. I can’t even recall if EDF asked for my carte de séjour and/or passport to establish identity when we applied to have my name on the bill.)

However, do know that the proof of communal life doesn’t have to be strictly only in France. Afterall, a relationship can exist long before a couple decide to move (back) to France. If you’ve been living together wherever you are and can prove it, that will have weights too. In fact, if you are both still abroad, an option to consider is getting your PACS at the French embassy/consulate in the country where you are living, instead of racing against the clock of your visitor’s visa!

A few additional notes:
– getting an appointment for the PACS at the mairie may take some time; if you’re short of time, you may want to look for a notary to get things going quicker (but this will set you back a few hundred euros)
– getting an appointment to apply for the carte de séjour will also take some time and I don’t know if it’s possible to switch from visitor visa to carte de séjour vie privée et familiale; there is a risk that the préfécture will make you return to your home country to apply for a short-term visa and re-enter France, before they will entertain your application.
– a successful signing of PACS *DOES NOT* automatically guarantee you the right to live and work in France; the préfécture studies each application on a case-by-case basis. Also, in the event of positive evaluation, until you’ve both lived together for at least a year in France, chances are you will be granted only the right to live and not to work.